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ekansekans's blog: "df"

created on 10/29/2012  |  http://fubar.com/df/b351055

To commemorate the 50th NHL Draft which takes place next Friday in Pittsburgh, TSN. Fred Jackson Jersey .ca looks back at 10 memorable storylines from the history of the event in 10 days. Today, we look back at the most anticipated draft lottery ever - the 30-team derby for Sidney Crosby in 2005. Every once in a while, a prospect so special comes along that the player alone defines the draft. Guy Lafleur, Mario Lemieux and Eric Lindros were all seen as potential franchise cornerstones before they even played a single NHL game. And in 2005, another such player came along by the name of Sidney Crosby. Stealing the spotlight for years as a teenager at Shattuk-St. Marys and then with the QMJHLs Rimouski Oceanic, many teams knew that a poor showing for the 2004-05 season could mean a chance to lock down Sid the Kid. But things would not go according to plan. When the season was wiped out by a 310-day lockout, the question of how to determine the draft order came to the forefront. The solution - the first 30-team draft lottery where all 30 teams would have a crack at the No. 1 pick. Each team would have three balls in the lottery drum, minus one ball for every year in the previous three they had either made the Stanley Cup playoffs or been awarded the first overall selection. In the end, the first overall pick would go to the Pittsburgh Penguins. "Justice!" shouted a smiling Chicago Blackhawks owner Bill Wirtz when NHL commissioner Gary Bettman revealed Pittsburghs logo from the envelope. The Penguins were one of only a few teams to have three balls in the lottery drum for missing the playoffs in the previous three seasons. And the team wasnt penalized a ball for having taken Marc-Andre Fleury first overall in 2003 (Fleury was taken after the team engineered a deal to get the first overall pick from the Florida Panthers, so since the Pens had not technically won the 2003 lottery, a ball was not taken away). Prior to the lockout, the Penguins built up their prospect base with Fleury, a breakout offensive threat in Evgeni Malkin (who would not join the team until 2006) and young defenders Ryan Whitney. But the team was also facing heavy financial problems and was even the subject of relocation rumours. With owner Mario Lemieux set to play in what would be his final season, the Penguins would get an added boost with such a high profile young talent being brought on board. The spotlight shone brightly on Crosby playing alongside Lemieux, but it would not prevent the team from finishing with the leagues second-worst record in his rookie campaign. Crosby also lost out on the rookie scoring title and the Calder Trophy race to Alexander Ovechkin, but he would set the gears in motion to return Pittsburgh to its early-90s dominance. Sid The Kid would be the centerpiece of a young Penguins squad featuring Kris Letang and Jordan Staal and was instrumental in taking the team to a Stanley Cup in just four years. Follow the TSN Quizmaster on Twitter and get more from this story as the draft draws closer. TSN and TSN.ca have exclusive coverage of the 2012 NHL Draft on Friday at 7pm et/4pm pt live from the CONSOL Energy Centre in Pittsburgh. Thurman Thomas Jersey . Wayne Rooney scored twice for the second straight match to guide United to victory at Old Trafford but all the focus was on the pre-match handshake that never happened, inflaming tensions between Englands two most successful clubs and reviving a racism row that refuses to go away. Stephon Gilmore Jersey . - Old master Kurt Warner and playoff newcomer Aaron Rodgers staged a passing duel to rival any the NFL has seen. http://www.billsteamstore.com/mario-williams-jerseys . Mark Teixeira and Robinson Cano hit solo home runs as the Yankees matched their longest winning streak since May 2005. The team with the ALs best record kept rampaging in interleague play -- all 10 of these triumphs have come against NL teams with winning records, including a sweep at Turner Field last week. Steve Johnson Womens Jersey . -- Thanks to a repave that led to blistering speeds, Pocono Raceways track record was topped 36 times. Ryan Fitzpatrick Jersey . Simmons hurt his finger on a head-first slide in Sundays game at Philadelphia. The Braves on Monday said Simmons hand will be in a cast for four weeks.Vancouver, BC (Sports Network) - Vancouver Whitecaps FC will be looking to improve its playoff chances while snapping a lengthy winless run when the club welcomes Chivas USA to BC Place tonight. The Whitecaps are in the midst of a seven-game winless streak which has seen the club drop to fifth place in the Western Conference, just two points clear of FC Dallas. Vancouver is coming off of a 0-0 draw with Seattle Sounders FC. It was the first clean sheet kept by the Canadian club since it played to a scoreless draw with Chivas on July 7. "The clean sheet comes from the eleven, not just us four at the back," said defender Jay DeMerit. "Its a team effort. If you look at the guys, there were a lot of tired bodies out there [Saturday]. Thats because we got behind the ball and did our work and we kept a good Seattle team scoreless. Thats the main thing, we have to keep going and now we have to go find the net." The Caps have managed just three goals over their current winless run, but head coach Martin Rennie saw plenty of positives to take away from the clubs Cascadia Cup draw with Seattle. "We defended well [Saturday], we look organized, and we gave up very few chances in the game," said Rennie. "We poossessed the ball well, we created good opportunities and we had a chance at the end to win the game, but I definitely saw progress and a lot to build on going forward. Mario Williams Jersey. " An offensive resurgence could be in the cards for Vancouver as it goes up against a Chivas side that has conceded 23 goals in its last eight games. The Goats are coming off of a 4-0 drubbing at the hands of Real Salt Lake, a match that head coach Robin Fraser believes Chivas handed to the Claret and Cobalt on a silver platter. "Once again, we shot ourselves in the foot," Fraser told reporters after the match. "Its always difficult to compete when you make critical mistakes and give teams leads." Goalkeeper Dan Kennedy says a silver lining lies in the fact that Chivas has been unlucky in going up against teams gaining momentum, something that would bode well for the Goats against an idle team like Vancouver. "Right now it seems like were getting punished for every small mistake, every little detail we miss, we get punished for it," Kennedy said. "This is a time of year where teams gain momentum for the playoffs or they dont. [Saturday] we ran into a team thats gaining a little bit of momentum." ' ' '

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